Monday, June 09, 2008

Sure, I Could Name Names, But What's Better Is the Names You Might Imagine

I rarely feel the urge to disparage another poet's work.
I figure everyone is just doing the best they can and so there's nothing to be really be critical about.
Every once in a while I find myself flinching though.
I find my inner person becoming my outer person.
I want to say, hey, that's bullshit.
Not because of how it's written but ultimately about what it implies.
Sometimes I'm like, I can't believe you're implying that!
I recently read a book by a very cool contemporary American poet and found myself questioning why it was I would describe them as "very cool." I thought this: I've experienced your ideas as they apply to your own person and your relationship with me, and I was not impressed. And so the personal starts to matter.
I would never teach my students what ethics matter or what's important about the honesty and morality of their artistic work, but we all know something is there. I do, somehow, think it's important to be honest, even when you're lying. What I really don't like is lying, even when you're telling lies.